Merve

A Quranic Name for Girls

Merve is variant of Marwa and has the exact same meaning and pronunciation (see below for full meaning). You can use either Merve or Marwa, both are correct and acceptable. If you like this variant more and you'd like to pronounce it the way it is spelled (different than the original name), this is perfectly acceptable. For more details please see the main entry at: Marwa.

Full Meaning of Merve

According to Abu Hanifah, Merveh means a smooth and hard white rock, the kind that animals use as a salt lick to provide them with nutrients. Others say it means a white rock that’s used for starting fires, which likely means quartz. It is the name of a hill in Mecca, important to Hajj proceedings, one of the two hills in which Hajar searched for water for her son Ismaeel.

The name can only be used for girls since the word is a proper noun—removing the ‘ah’ would remove the Quranic significance, in which case it would become Maru, which means ‘white stone used for igniting fires’ according to Lisan al-Arab, which as we said probably refers to quartz.

Merveh is mentioned once in the Quran:

Indeed, the Safaa and Merveh are among the symbols of Allah. So whoever makes Hajj to the House or performs ‘umrah – there is no blame upon him for walking between them. And whoever volunteers good – then indeed, Allah is appreciative and Knowing. {2:158}